Movie Review: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Finally. After days of being busy with work, I finally got the chance to see The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. I had been wanting to see this particular part of the Saga, since, well, this is probably the most action-packed Twilight Saga chapter ever. EVER. Who can't refuse to see vampires and wolves banding to together to fight even badder vampires -- just for the sake of ONE human girl? I mean, come on.

Anyhoo. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse splits into two side stories that ultimately merges into one. The film opens with the creation of a newborn vampire by Victoria in order to help her to bring down the Cullens and ultimately kill Bella. They go on and create an army of newborns, thinking that their numbers can bring down the Cullen Coven.

On the other side, Jacob still pines for Bella, flat out telling her that he knows that Bella feels something for him, she just wouldn't admit it.

But, Bella being the common ground here, when the newborns decide to come to Forks to confront the Cullen coven, the Quilete wolves and the Cullen vampires decide to band together to defend their town, catching the newborns by surprise.

Oh yeah, and Edwards formally proposes to Bella (she accepts, duh).

It is in this chapter that we find out the stories of Rosalie and Jasper -- how they got transformed into vampires, and the root cause of Rosalie's dislike of Bella's choice to become an immortal.

My favorite scene: The battle scene. That's all I watched Eclipse for, anyway.

Cinematography wise, it's very "Twilight". Granted, there were still a few deviations from the book itself, but let's suspend judgement until Breaking Dawn (which I read somewhere that it's going to be made into two movies).

The verdict: Three and a half stars

Movie Review: Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 has been released in the Philippines a week before the US release due to the fight against movie piracy. Frankly, I think it's a great idea. That way, we Filipinos have something to claim we were first, haha.

*Warning: SPOILERS ahead*

But kidding aside, Iron Man 2 is the continuing story of Tony Stark's adventure, set 6 months after the events of the first movie. It's the time for the Stark Expo, and what better way to launch the expo by flying in from the sky in the Iron Man suit. As the movie progresses, we see that Tony Stark is summoned to a Senate hearing, where the US Senate is - to put it in words - demanding that the Iron Man suit be turned over to the US Government. Naturally, Stark refuses to let go of the suit, expressing that Iron Man and him are one and the same, arguing that how can you take one from the other. At the same time, Tony Stark makes his long-time secretary, Pepper Potts, as the CEO and Chairman of Stark Industries, thereby hiring Natasha Romanoff, a secret agent affiliated with SHIELD, as the new executive assistant.

We also see Tony Stark's new enemies -- business competitor Justin Hammer, who partnered with criminal physicist Ivan Vanko, known as Whiplash. Together, they create an army of drones, to be led by Tony's best friend James Rhodes, who outfits a power suit with all the weapons one can possibly think of, hence renaming the suit Warmachine.

In a side story arc, we can see how the palladium in the arc reactor that powers him is slowly beginning to poison his body. We see Tony be approached by the director of SHIELD, Nick Fury, and be given a chest full of notes and files of his late father, in an effort to find out a cure for his slow poison.

In the end, as always, the good guys win, and there's this thing called the "Avengers Initiative" -- which we all know is a teaser for another Marvel movie around 2012, revolving around the Avengers.

In my opinion, the sequel is either better than or didn't quite put up with the first movie. I would say that Iron Man 2 is leaning towards didn't quite put up with the first movie. Don't get me wrong, Iron Man 2 is a good entertaining movie, but I must admit I wanted to sleep halfway through the movie. It's like halfway through, you'd know what the whole story is about, and that the only thing you're waiting for are the explosions and the fight sequences. It has become predictable and frankly, quite boring.

If it weren't for the fact that I got the tickets for a fraction of the cost, thanks to a Citibank credit card promotion, I would've waited for a later showing than seeing the movie on the second day of release.

I guess the most memorable part was where Tony and Pepper finally admitted that they loved each other and were kissing -- when a little boy loudly expressed "EEEEEWWWWWW" in the theater, eliciting laughs from all moviegoers. That, my friends, is a classic.

The verdict: 3 and a half out of 5 stars

Movie Review: Alice in Wonderland

Ok. This is I think my first review of 2010. I've been so busy lately that I haven't had the chance to update this blog. So... let's do this.

Alice in Wonderland - the live, 2010 version - is nothing like the fairy tale from Hans Christen Andersen back when I was a kid. This version of Alice in Wonderland is the updated version: It's been thirteen years since Alice first tumbled down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Alice Kingsley (I never knew that until this movie) is now 20 years old, and is about to get engaged to this guy who's a lord named Amish. She then gets distracted by the White Rabbit... as Amish gets down on one knee to propose in front of a whole gathering. Alice excuses herself saying that she needed to think, and follows the White Rabbit back to the rabbit hole, where she once again falls down.

Everybody in Wonderland - now called Dunderland (maybe it's a silent "D" but I couldn't really understand) - knows who Alice is, but Alice is pretty sure she's only dreaming. They get chased by the Knight Sting - who has this eye patch in the shape of a heart - who's working for the Red Queen. Alice escapes with the help of the Cheshire Cat, the Hare and the Mad Hatter, who reminds Alice that the place they all now know as (D)Underland was the place she once called Wonderland.

There's a series of prophesies surrounding Alice's return to Wonder/(D)Underland, the main one being that she's to slay the beast called the Jabberwocky, in order to return the crown to its rightful owner, the White Queen.

In essence, there begins a battle between Red and White, with the Mad Hatter serving as knight for the White Queen and Alice as her champion.

I find this movie a wee bit disturbing, since we all grew up knowing the story of Alice in Wonderland, and THAT fairy tale painted pretty pictures in our head, especially with the cartoon version also by Disney. Although it's obvious this Alice in Wonderland isn't for the young, there were still a lot of kids who watched the movie, and I, for one, think that they won't be able to sleep well tonight. This movie has a stellar cast - Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, to name a few - and they all complimented each other so well. Although this movie might not be that much of a blockbuster, I think that this could very well be one of the top-grossing movies of 2010 so far.

I don't think that there's a difference between the 3D version and the regular version, but I do find the 3D glasses a teeny bit annoying. One size does not fit all.

The verdict: 3 and a half out of 5 stars